- "Shocking!"
Produced 2003, aired in U.S. on 4/9/04
Production order: 2 (1-2)
Danny's grades are proving to be the first casualty of his part-time ghost hunting job. To boost his falling Biology grade, Sam convinces him to do an extra credit report on the plight of the endangered purple-back gorilla. Unfortunately, the timing is less than ideal, as Danny's now being stalked by a ghost hunter — as in, a ghost who is a hunter — Skulker, who's determined to make the rarest specimen he's ever seen (a half-human, half-ghost) his next prize.
Contains the first appearance of the Box Ghost. "BEWARE!"
This episode provides examples of:
- Badass in a Nice Suit: The ghosts that escape from the Fenton Thermos thanks to Tucker's carelessness of spinning it like a basketball don gray business suits.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Danny fighting the Box Ghost.
- Crotch-Glance Sex Check: Danny doesn't realize that the gorilla is a female until he turns around and sees her parts.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Skulker calls the dimension he's from "Ghost World."
- Dramatic Unmask: Beneath his hulking grown-man sized, flaming, high-tech battle armor, Skulker is actually a tiny green glob that can fit in the palm of your hand.
- Future Loser: When one of Skulker’s traps catches Dash instead of Danny, Skulker’s scanner says that Dash is just an average human teenager, and destined for an average life after high school.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Skulker steals Tucker's PDA to repair some damage to his suit. By doing so, he's forced to follow everything Tucker scheduled for Danny.
- Ironic Echo Cut: After his room gets trashed during a fight with Skulker, Danny slams the door on a reporter visiting the house.Danny: Don't you people ever knock?! Jazz is going to kill me for that.(cut to the other side of the door)Jazz: I'm gonna kill him for that.
- Kick the Dog: Skulker webs Mikey to a wall and glued his eyes and mouth shut with slime for “trying to sneak up on him” when all he did was politely ask if he was done using a computer.
- Lampshade Hanging: Before the Dramatic Unmask, Tucker admits he was wondering why a ghost would need a robotic battle suit.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Danny almost slips up and reveals to Lancer that he fought a ghost, but changes it to "gorilla" on the last second.Danny: A C?! I almost get killed by a gho—rilla, and all I get is a C?!
- Mistaken for Profound: When Danny slams his door shut on everyone to stop them from seeing his destroyed room from his fight with Skulker, the reporter visiting for Genius Magazine takes this as a sign that he is a genius like his parents.Connie: Brooding? Messy? Reclusive? Now, those are the signs of a true genius. Oh! If only he were a woman.
- Monkey Morality Pose: While watching Samson give Skulker a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Danny, Sam, and Tucker take on the three poses.
- Never My Fault: Tucker twice refers to Sam as the one who released an entire night's worth of captured ghosts, when it was actually him. Sam, understandably, is not amused and she gives him a chilling Death Glare.
- Out of Order: Although the second episode produced, it was the third to air. While not nearly as glaring as examples in Season 2 or 3, there are still some hints it takes place before "Parental Bonding." The dialogue at the warehouse makes the most sense if this is the trio's first ghost hunt, and Danny doesn't have his overshadowing ability yet.
- Pet the Dog: When Danny asks Dash to open his gym locker for him because he’s “too weak” to do it (knowing that Skulker has set a trap for him inside his locker), Dash opens it for him. Granted, he also calls Danny a loser before helping him.
- Red Herring: A rule of the series is that any Fenton gadget introduced in Act I will play a major role in Act(s) II and/or III. The one exception is this episode's Ghost Gabber, which is used for nothing (except a Running Gag of repeating anything Danny says near it and adding the suffix "Fear me"), plays no role in the plot, and never appears in another episode.
- Samus Is a Girl: For the majority of the episode, it was believed the purple back gorilla at the zoo was a male, but when Danny inadvertently gets close up to it, he discovers it's actually a female. Mr. Lancer is surprised that nobody at the zoo bothered to check.
- Schedule Fanatic: Tucker for this episode only, appointing himself Danny's "time manager." (Since it didn't exactly help, perhaps Danny told him to drop the idea.)
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: For both the protagonist and the antagonist.
- Skulker is obsessed with catching the "one of a kind" half-human, half-ghost hybrid. Before the end of the season, he'll learn that's not even the case.
- After all that work, Danny's report only gets a C.
- Shooting Superman: The Box Ghost throws the contents of a bunch of boxes in a warehouse at Danny. Danny turns intangible while looking more bored than George Reeves.
- Stalker without a Crush: Skulker for Danny.
- Title Drop: Skulker's first line is one.Skulker: Half human, half ghost. One of a kind.
- Villain Respect: When Dash and Dale walk in and see Mikey after Skulker webbed him to a wall and slimed his eyes and mouth shut, they admire the “high-quality bullying”.
- Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Tucker's PDA gets stolen by Skulker. When he shows up at school the next morning with another one, Sam asks him, "How many of those things do you have?" Although he tells her "Just 2," he always has a replacement no matter how many times his PDA gets destroyed throughout the series.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Is a Lighter and Softer version of the Batman Beyond episode "Bloodsport." Even the villains' names are almost identical (Stalker and Skulker).
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: The main subject of Danny's report turns out to be revealing that the zoo's male gorilla is actually female.
